Gunman was 'hellbent on killing more'

SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- The gunman believed to have killed five people vowed on videotape to kill even more, hours before he took his own life after a fierce gun battle on city streets, police said Monday.

"This individual killed five people and was hellbent on killing more people," said Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas, who urged the news media not to glorify the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Joseph Ferguson.

Venegas said Ferguson vowed to "go out in a bigger way than Soltys and McVeigh," referring to Nikolay Soltys, the Sacramento man charged with last month's killings of six family members, and to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Ferguson made the six-minute, profanity-laced videotape at the home of his last victim.

At a news conference Monday, police played an excerpt in which an angry Ferguson apologized to the victims' families, acknowledged his words were probably meaningless and predicted he would die by his own hand or by police.

He also criticized the news media's interest in covering mass murders.

Job loss and romantic failure

At the time of his death, Ferguson -- recently suspended from his job as a guard with Burns Security and apparently troubled by the recent breakup with a girlfriend -- was wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with several weapons, including an AK-47 and a 9 mm handgun.

"The officers were under heavy fire," said Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas. "This individual knew how to work weapons."

Sunday night's gun battle, which unfolded at two locations as Ferguson sped through city streets firing at police cars, left two others wounded.

Police converge on the scene of a running gun battle.

A California Highway Patrol officer was shot two times in the left arm but was expected to make a full recovery.

A 27-year-old bystander was in critical condition at the University of California Davis Medical Center after being shot in the stomach. Police said they believe the man was hit by a round from Ferguson's AK-47.

Ferguson was spotted in a stolen Nissan Altima after he left the home of his final victim.

Police said he killed the man -- a onetime supervisor at Burns Security -- but released the wife after forcing the couple to make the videotape.

The chase and gun battle ensued when police spotted Ferguson.

Police said more than 200 shell casings from the AK-47 were found at one scene of the gun battle; another 60 shells were recovered at another location, along with a second 9 mm handgun.

Police believe Ferguson killed himself with a single gunshot to the head.

Girlfriend one of first victims

The killing spree began Saturday night. Police found the bodies of two female Burns Security guards, ages 20 and 32, at a city equipment yard. Each had been shot several times.

Sacramento police believe the 20-year-old was Ferguson's ex-girlfriend and that she may have been the reason Ferguson went to the equipment yard. Police said a handgun was found at the scene.

A half-hour later and about 10 miles away from the equipment yard, officers found the bodies of two men, ages 19 and 48, who had been shot several times.

One of the victims was wearing a Burns Security uniform. An assault rifle was found at the scene, police said.

Hours later, police discovered another Burns employee handcuffed but uninjured in the Sacramento Zoo. She told officers Ferguson had fled in her 1992 Toyota Tercel.

"He's very brutal, very violent," Sacramento Police Sgt. Dan Hahn said at the time. "This person has threatened numerous people ..."

Rewards totaling $130,000 were offered for information leading to Ferguson's arrest.

Police searched the house where Ferguson lived with his father and brother for more than a decade. Officers said they found numerous weapons and white supremacist and survivalist literature.

A neighbor who lives two houses away told CNN the family had previous run-ins with police. He declined to elaborate.